Winthrop University Athletics

Monty Sanders was hired as Associate Head Coach in May of 2024. Sanders is in his second stint with the Eagles and returns to be in charge of the offense, the same role he had as an assistant coach with the Eagles in 2021-22.
Sanders returns after spending the past two seasons as assistant coach at Campbell University.

He joined the Fighting Camel staff in May 2022 after serving one season at Winthrop as the director of player development. In his first year with the Camels, Sanders helped guide a team that advanced to the Big South Championship final. The Camels knocked off defending champ and second seed Longwood and third-seeded Radford before falling to top seed UNC Asheville in the title game.
 
Sanders helped develop Big South freshman of the year Anthony Dell’Orso, who led all league freshmen in scoring (12.5), rebounding (5.8) and free throw percentage (.830).  Ricky Clemons earned all-conference honors, while Laurynas Vaistaras was named to the Big South all-academic team during Sanders’ first year with the program.
 
The Camels won a share of the 2022 Appalachian State MTE, defeating eventual ASUN champ Kennesaw State and Sun Belt member Appalachian.  Campbell also played ACC member NC State to a two-possession game (67-73) in Raleigh.

When Sanders was on staff in 2021-22, the Eagles were 23-9 and advanced to the Big South Conference Title game. That season Winthrop was 3^rd in the league in scoring (75.2 ppg) while leading the conference in field goal percentage and three-point field goals per game (8.6). Eagles had 276 three-point field goals, 8^th most in a single-season in program history. Sanders also helped in the development of D.J. Burns Jr., who was the 2021-22 Big South Conference Player of the Year.

For the second time, Sanders was chosen to attend the 2023 TopConnect Basketball Symposium, identifies the top assistant basketball coaches in the country and connects them with mid-major Athletic Directors providing tremendous networking and leadership development opportunities for both parties.

Sanders moved to Winthrop after spending the 2020-21 season as an assistant coach at UNC Wilmington.
    
Prior to his stop at UNCW, Sanders spent two seasons with head coach Mark Prosser at Western Carolina.  Sanders was an assistant coach during Prosser’s first season with the Catamounts in 2018-19 and before the start of the 2019-20 season was promoted to associate head coach. During that season (’19-20) he helped lead the team to the second-largest turnaround in NCAA D1 by winning 12 more games than the previous season. As the offensive coordinator he helped guide the team to final national rankings of 17th in scoring offense, 14th in three-point field goals per game and 17th in effective field goal percentage.
 
His coaching career began at his alma mater as the director of operations for the Elon men’s basketball program. Sanders, who began his collegiate career at Richmond, played his final two seasons with the Phoenix and was a team captain as a senior. He was promoted to assistant coach before the 2013-14 season and spent five seasons in that role before departing to join Prosser at Western Carolina.
 
A native of Raleigh, N.C., Sanders began his playing career at Richmond before transferring to Elon following the 2005-06 campaign. He was a two-year letter winner with the Phoenix and served as a team captain in his senior year under former head coach Ernie Nestor.
 
Sanders continued his association with Elon as Director of Basketball Operations in August of 2010 and was promoted to assistant coach in the summer of 2013. In Sanders’ five seasons as assistant, Elon posted double-digit victories each year, including a pair of 18-win seasons.
 
A tireless recruiter, Sanders signed players from across the United States as well as international talent from Canada, Germany, Croatia and England. He was instrumental in signing Elon's top career 3-point shooter, Tanner Samson, who drained 324 career treys and racked up 1,320 career points.
 
Working mostly with Elon's big men, Sanders aided in the development of the program's all-time blocked shots leader and 1,600-point scorer Lucas Troutman. He also worked closely with all-time great Tyler Seibring, a three-time All-CAA and two-time NABC All-District 10 selection.
 
Sanders also worked primarily with big men at both Western Carolina and UNCW. At WCU he assisted in the development of Carlos Dotson who earned back-to-back All-Conference selections as well as a Lou Henson All-American selection.
 
Sanders helped the Phoenix pile up 21 wins in the 2012-13 season, the school’s most victories in the NCAA Division I era, and the program's first D-I postseason berth in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament as Elon captured the Southern Conference North Division regular season championship. Sanders was also part of Elon transition’s to the Colonial Athletic Association in the 2014-15 season.
 
Prior to returning to Elon as a member of the staff, Sanders served as assistant boy’s varsity basketball coach at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh and head coach of the Garner Road Basketball Club AAU 15U team.
 
As a player, Sanders was a popular standout for the Phoenix, on and off the court. One of Sanders’ career highlights came in the 2009 Southern Conference Tournament when he scored a career-high 21 points in an upset victory over Wofford.  Away from the court, he served on Elon’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council from 2007-2009 and spearheaded the annual "Phoenix Field Day" for inner-city youth of Burlington, a program that Elon students still continue today.
 
Sanders earned his bachelor's degree in business administration at Elon in 2009 and his MBA from Winthrop in 2023. He has a daughter, Emmerson Sloane Sanders and son, Beckham Steele Sanders.